Asylum seeker's body returned to family

Meqdad Hussain was found dead at the Scherger Detention Centre near Weipa in March.

ABC News

The body of an asylum seeker who died in immigration detention has been returned to his family in Afghanistan two-and-a-half months after his death.

Meqdad Hussain was found dead at the Scherger Detention Centre near Weipa on Cape York in far north Queensland on March 17.

At a side gate of Kabul airport, families wait to receive the bodies of relatives who tried to seek asylum overseas and failed.

Stern-faced uncles and cousins squat next to the chipboard coffin of a 35-year-old Afghan man who died trying to reach Germany. Not far away, a boy sits under a tree, waiting for his brother's body to arrive.

Meqdad Hussain's younger brother, Mubasher, says his mother has lost her mind because of the grief.

Mubasher Hussain is only 10, but he is now the head of the family and has travelled from Pakistan to collect his brother's body.

He says he earns up to 100 rupees ($1.09) a day selling plastic bags to help cover household expenses.

His older brother had sought asylum in Australia before he was found dead.

The Immigration Department says Meqdad Hussain's death is still being investigated by the coroner.